"We have all come to this conference with a firm belief that compliance and enforcement, good governance and the rule of law are the foundation for sustainable development. For this sake, let all of us be committed to learn from each other and to come to action."

Click here for the full text of the speech (PDF format)

Panelists:
Brendan Gillespie, Head, Environment and Globalisation Division, OECD Environment Directorate
John Cruden, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Joanne Yawitch, Deputy Director General, Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, South Africa

Moderator: Greg Sullivan, Chair-elect, Brisbane City Council

Strengthening compliance creates both public and private value — public value by protecting public health and sustaining ecosystem services and private value by improving competitiveness of firms, accelerating technological innovation, and leveling the playing field.

John Cruden provided five main themes: (1) the necessity for a "level playing field" to ensure fair competition, (2) the emphasis on the rule of law, (3) making sure an enforcement program includes public health benefits in addition to environmental benefits (and with an eye on disadvantaged communities who may receive unequal environment impacts) and the need for a strong and independent judiciary.

Joanne Yawitch provided the perspective of a developing country with a rapidly growing economy, and emphasized the need to find the appropriate balance point between expanding the economy in a country with a high (20%+) unemployment rate while still protecting environment, a particularly difficult task given South Africa's heavy concentration of inherently dirty extraction industries. Joanne also recognized that in the process of rewriting its constitution after the end of apartheid, that environmental values — including freedom from environmental harm and to a sustainable environment — were specifically in its Bill of Rights. Joanne also testified that the threat of enforcement has been essential in South Africa in getting businesses to obtain their necessary permits.

Brendan Gillespie previewed the results of paper he will be delivering in November titled "Environmental Compliance Assurance: Some Trends in OECD Countries and Major Emerging Economies." Brendan pointed out that generally OECD countries are not on track to meet their environmental objectives and that enforcement is the key to addressing the gap. He further pointed to trends that are helping enforcement become more effective, including crossmedia integration and regulatory simplification, the growing importance of compliance promotion as a complement to enforcement, risk-based targeting of inspections and better performance measurement. Finally, Brendan indicated a shift away from criminal enforcement to faster administrative enforcement methods, being certain to recoup any economic gain by the violator.

"Buffet of Ideas" volunteer leaders announced their topic and invited interested participants to join their lunch discussion. Topics announced included:

• Compliance Trainers Network
• Ports Initiative Kickoff
• Ecomessage
• Making Aid Effective
• African Enforcement Networks
• Marine Enforcement
• China
• NGO Table
• Sustaining Network Secretariats
• Francophone Networks
• Members of the Judiciary

The Honorable Judge Dennis Davis of the High Court of Cape Town gave a very lively and entertaining dinner speech. He shared his experiences with adjudicating environmental cases in the Cape Town area. He quoted Section 24 of the constitution that gives all South Africans the right on a sound environment and discussed the importance and ramifications of this provision for South Africa and the universality of this principle. He stressed the need for environmental awareness and saw a great task ahead for environmental enforcers all over the globe. He also stated that we need to lead the way together in global governance and to understand the difficulty in balancing immediate economic needs and a sustainable environment. He stressed the importance of providing the answers for regulators and judges to help them do the right thing.

Panelists:
Julius Kipngetich, Director, Kenya Wildlife Service
Samuel Wasser, University of Washington
Rosalind Reeve, Chatham House

Moderator: Ladislav Miko, Director, Directorate B: Protection the Natural Environment, Environment DG, European Commission

Illegal trade is a grave concern, especially in Africa. General enforcement cooperation is necessary at a regional level to enhance the efficiency of enforcement efforts. People need to be trained, have the correct tools and the appropriate information not only to do their jobs locally, but to work with neighboring countries and with trading partners. Forestry, wildlife and fisheries sectors are under heavy stress; science should feed into efforts to protect these resources. INECE should concern itself with summarizing ongoing trends and bringing to light the challenges faced in enforcing laws designed to protect these important sectors. Public education should be a critical component of this effort.

Shot on location in Kenya, Zambia, Malawi, Japan, and the United States, the "The Ivory Poaching Wars" tracks illegally poached elephant ivory on its journey from Africa to Japan and the United States, with the help of an African enforcement agency and DNA analysts from the United States. Laws do not work without enforcement, and enforcement organizations such as the Lusaka Agreement Task Force are essential for protecting these endangered animals. The documentary underlines the critical role that enforcement cooperation plays in protecting the wildlife populations that are being destroyed by poaching and illegal trade.

Treaties such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have been introduced over the years to protect wildlife against illegal poaching, but the elephant ivory trade remains a very lucrative one and has grown in recent years. In 1996, a group of African countries came together to draft and implement the Lusaka Agreement. The Agreement’s current membership comprises the Republics of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the Kingdom of Lesotho. Its enforcement division, the "Lusaka Agreement Task Force," focuses on curtailing illegal wildlife and flora trade with the support of other law enforcement agencies, which often means cracking down on ivory poachers and traffickers.

Although wildlife traffickers can be elusive, slipping through loopholes in laws and diverting trade through countries with lax ivory enforcement, they now face a new challenge. Advances in technology have given investigators new techniques to use, particularly in the case of ivory. The film explores how DNA analysis of ivory can be used to trace the contraband being sold in various parts of the world back to its origin, increasing officials’ chances of apprehending the guilty parties.

"The Ivory Poaching Wars" was produced and directed by filmmaker Douglas Varchol and sponsored in part by INECE, the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which provided substantial support for this project.

Participants volunteered to lead lunch conversations on Thursday on the following topics:

• Compliance Trainers Network
• Ports Initiative Kickoff
• Ecomessage
• Making Aid Effective
• African Enforcement Networks
• Marine Enforcement
• China
• NGO Table
• Sustaining Network Secretariats
• Francophone Networks
• Members of the Judiciary

Panelists:
Iwona Rummel-Bulska, Principal Legal Officer and Chief of the Environmental Law Branch, UNEP
Jonathan Allotey, Director, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana
Bert Wijbenga, Chief of Police, Flevoland Police, The Netherlands
Walker Smith, Director, Office of Regulatory Enforcement, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Moderator: Catherine McCabe, Deputy Assistant Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

This panel explored why global cooperation is necessary to combat the illegal trade in chemicals, hazardous wastes and environmentally-regulated products. Panelist discussed compliance issues associated with the import and export of ozone depleting substances; non-conforming pesticides; PCBs in transformers or ships; hazardous waste; electronic waste; scrap metal contaminated with radiation; and, non-road engines and motor vehicles.

Jonathan Allotey, Director, Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana, talked about import problems in Ghana. These include the importation of mislabeled products containing ozone depleting substances, illegal pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Electronic wastes coming in from Europe as used products is also a problem.

Dr. Iwona Rummel-Bulska, Principle Legal Officer and Chief of the Environmental Law Branch of UNEP talked about the Probobo Koala incident in Abijan Cote d’Ivoire in August 2006. This incident highlighted significant gaps in the Basel Convention and in the ability or willingness of countries to cooperate on tracking suspect shipments of hazardous waste. The incident resulted in deaths, massive displacement of people, and the formation of a new government in Cote d’Ivoire. The facts of this case were detailed in a power point presentation and in a paper submitted as part of Volume 1 of the Conference Proceedings.

Dr Rummel-Bulska also highlighted the problem of dumping used electronic equipment in Africa. She said that 50 million metric tons of electronic wastes are generated globally, and much of it finds it way to Africa as charitable donations. Between 25% and 75% are useless. In Nigeria alone about 500 containers full of electronic waste pass through the port of Lagos.

Walker Smith, Director of the Office of Civil Enforcement at the United States Environmental Protection Agency talked about the United States focus on non-compliant imports. She talked about efforts in four areas: pesticides, chlorofluorocarbons, scrap metal, non-compliant engines. Specific products discussed were pesticide chalks, silly string, radioactive steel and engines. She pointed out that 48,000 engines have been seized recently for not being compliant with the Clean Air Act.

Bert Wijbenja, Chief of Police of the Flevoland Police Force in the Netherlands pointed out that environmental crimes provide some of the easiest ways to make money. He noted that environmental crimes are not victimless. He underscored the need for:

1. Specialized full-time detectives for environmental crimes
2. Improving of intelligence by which operations led.
3. Introduced possibility of anonymous reporting.
4. Mandatory training for all officers working in environmental crimes.

Arwyn Jones, Programme Manager for the Environment Agency of England and Wales noted that this is a hugely complex problem that will grow as trade grows. He pointed out the need to get clarity as to where the problems lie and to include stakeholders in the solutions.

Moderator: Gerard Wolters, Inspector-General for International Enforcement Cooperation, VROM

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